Gathering collectables

About a week before the Rite of the Reef, Resonance was asleep in her soft warm bed before she groggily opened her eyes and yawned. Her teeth sparkled golden hue and she brushed them with some spare minty toothpaste. She stared at her reflection in her gilded mirror and groomed herself. After coughing up some furballs, she shook herself and got to her desk to check her journal. She skimmed through the last couple of pages before stopping on her scratched-up to-do list. She traced her paw along the dotted notes and stopped at a entry written “glass bottle for the Rite of the Reef keepsake” in shabby handwriting. She glanced at the time and decided now would be an ample time to fetch some nice looking bottles for the keepsakes she wanted to get at the Lylluna beach during the Rite of the Reef. 

Without a second thought, she grabbed her purple backpack and stuffed it with coins to go shopping at a nearby thrift market. She also packed some cucumber sandwiches and an extra bottle of water for the trip. Her boosha made a concerned little yelp and she paused for a moment before she realized she needed to feed him before she left. Hastily, she grabbed the boosha branded kibble  in the pantry and poured some into her boosha’s feeding bowl and filled his yellow water bowl with some extra water.  Before she left, she kissed her boosha goodbye, and turned her key to lock the door behind her.

Resonance trotted through the forest along a sandy path towards the thrift market and stopped on the first stall. Hundreds of iridescent bottles, some with spots, some with stripes and some with ombres. She took the time to look at every bottle that caught her eye, a lavender purple long necked bottle with little yellow stars, a cyan blue rectangular bottle with a cute little moon in the centre, an azure triangle shaped bottle with several golden swirls in the shape of galaxies. Though they were all adamantly cute, she skipped pass them and on to another stall. These weren’t exactly what she was looking for. Further down the market, a little lumendra stopped her and excitedly advertised their own stall selling similar glass bottles. “Oh you must come and look at my bottles! I think I have EXACTLY what you’re looking for miss! And - I’ll give you a special discount just for you!” The light green lumendra beckoned her forward to a smaller shop a little ways away from the others with big beady eyes. A little confused and albeit surprised, she smiled meekly and followed the lumendra to their stand. On the shelves were rows of multi-colored bottles with various ribbons and tags attached to them, all with supposed “Spells” and “Enchantments” that were cast on the bottles. Though Resonance was a little doubtful, she did her best to entertain the little shopkeeper. 

“Any specific colors that you are looking for miss?” The lumendra smiled widely, their lantern bouncing up and down in excitement. Resonance was about to speak, but was quickly interrupted by the lumendra. “How about this one ey? Its nice and lapis blue with shiny speckles of gold to match your fur!” The lumendra pushed the bottle towards her and Resonance held it up under the sunlight to get a better look at it. You know what? This might actually work… She contemplated. With another some-what forced smile she set the bottle down and shuffled around in her sack to get some coins for the bottle. “That’ll be 40 wisps please!” The lumendra held out a paw and Resonance handed over her wisps as the lumendra made some happy yips. “Oh thank you so much! Did you know that you are my very first customer? And for that you can choose any product that I am selling here as a bonus gift! On the house!” Resonance blinked a couple of times, not quite sure what to say but soon snapped out of her confusion and bent down to look at the jars again. 

Then, out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of a slim lemon-yellow jar with a red ribbon wrapped around the neck. She reached for it with a paw but the lumendra hastily stopped her. “Ohh, ahh… sorry that one’s the only one not for sale I’m afraid! Any other bottle will do though!” Resonance frowned and spoke up. “I am willing to barter for it! That bottle is one of the prettiest in the market you know.” The lumendra was taken aback, clearly they have not faced such determination before. “I um… well I guess I could sell it to you for 70 wisps… but don’t get any ideas! I am only doing this because you’re my first customer okay? I am not no push-over.” With a huff, the lumendra reluctantly handed her the jar and Resonance lit up with excitement and gleefully handed over her own wisps. “Thank you so much! Don’t you worry, this jar will be put to very good use!” Before she left, she turned back around and mustered up the courage to ask the lumendra for their name. “My name is Bramble, and It’s a pleasure to meet you!” Resonance smiled, and replied. “I’m Resonance, it’s a pleasure to meet you too Bramble!” They shook paws, and Resonance waved goodbye as she continued her journey down the market.

While she walked, Resonance admired her two newest additions to her collection bottles. The lemon-yellow bottle glinted in the light like a star, casting iridecent glimmers of sunlight at the floor beneath her. Nonetheless, she continued forward towards a stall manned by a tortuvina. “Looking for a bottle for keepsakes little ruptour?” The tortuvina asked politely. Resonance nodded, and the tortuvina unfolded a wing and revealed a selection of stubby little bottles hidden beneath it. Resonance knelt down to observe the various bottles and contemplated for a moment. After a couple of minutes, Resonance settled on an aquamarine colored bottle with some white swirl patterns. It sort of looks like the sea I guess. She smiled up at the tortuvina. “Just this one, how much will it be?” The tortuvina bent their head down to check the bottle, and spoke softly. “That would be 40 wisps dear… are you sure you won’t have a look at any other of my bottles?” Resonance gently shook her head and handed the tortuvina the 40 wisps and thanked them. 

Finally! I have all 3 of the bottles I need! Resonance did a quiet “Yes!” to herself and turned back around to head back home. The sun had begun to set and the stars peeked behind the clouds while the night leaked through. It was getting pretty late, and logically she should have been back a couple of hours ago. Resonance grimaced at the thought of worrying her pet, and re-adjusted her satchel while trekking back through the brambles towards her home. Then all of a sudden she was stopped by a rouge band of ruptours blocking her path. They circled around her and giggled to themselves as she cowered in fear. “Hey there… it looks like you’ve got some nice bottles with you…” One of the ruptours growled. “They look mighty fine and expensive too!” The other sneered. Resonance’s eyes widened in fear, and she backed away into a corner. “Say… where did you get those bottles little missy?” The ruptour licked it’s mouth menacingly. Resonance shivered, and raised a claw towards the thrift market. “Over there… by the stalls… a tortuvina and a lumendra gave it to me!” The ruptours laughed like hyenas, and turned back towards Resonance with a snarky grin. “Well thank you very much missy. We’ll be sure to check it out, won’t we boys?” The other ruptours howled in unison and giggled some more as they bounded away towards the thrift market. Then, Resonance was all alone, completely safe and unharmed. What the heck? What in the world was that? Resonance remained still for another moment completely perplexed and confused. Eventually she shook her head and got out of her trance and got up. She looked around once more and shrugged. I guess they seriously wanted some cool bottles for keepsakes. She awkwardly laughed to herself and continued walking back home.

It was around midnight when she finally opened her door and was greeted by a very excited boosha. Resonance set her satchel down and took out her bottles and set them on the desk right next to her lantern she had made earlier. She smiled and yawned, thoroughly exhausted from the day’s events. Tomorrow was the first day of the Rite of the Reef, and she had successfully collected her bottles for keepsakes she wanted to take home with her. She neatly crossed out the diary to-do-list log off and flopped down in her bed and took a deep breath to calm herself. Her boosha came up to her and snuggled comfortably beside her and she closed her eyes. 

The sun rose the next morning and Resonance stretched her arms out and yawned. Her boosha still sound asleep. Alright, todays the day! Resonance slowly got out of bed and went to get some berries from a cupboard to snack on for breakfast. She chowed down on the berries happily and checked up on her lantern and bottles. She picked up her satchel and carefully placed her bottles inside ready to use them for her collections from the Rite of the Reef. She was about to head out the door when she stopped and turned back to fetch her lantern - couldn’t leave without that! She picked up her boosha and closed the door behind her and headed towards the beach to get ready for the Rite of the Reef later that day. 

A couple hours passed, and she had just made it to the shores of Lylluna reef. She heaved a heavy sigh of relief and set her satchel down next to some rocks lining the shore. She looked around and caught sight of the same band of ruptours that had stopped her last night. They were happily giggling and scratching at the sand together, picking up tiny sea-shells and pebbles. And to top it all off - each of them had their own multi-colored bottle for keepsakes aswell and they eagerly stuffed the sand, pebbles and shells inside them whilst laughing. Resonance smiled toherself and chuckled. What an odd group. Just as she was about to get out her own bottles, she heard a tiny voice from behind her perk up. “Oh hey! You’re Resonance right?” Startled, she spun around to meet the gaze of a tiny green lumendra stood behind her. This wasn’t any green lumendra though, it was “Bramble!” Resonance sighed and she smiled at the lumendra with genuine sincerity. “Sorry if I scared you, but I was meaning to thank you for the bonus customers yesterday! I really owe it to ya!” Brambles was practically beaming with joy as he pointed towards the group of ruptours down the shore. “Those guys gave me over 400 wisps each! Gosh, I can’t thank you enough for the promotion! Got to admit it though, that band of ruptours seriously gave me a fright! They looked all mean and nasty but in reality they’re real genuine softies.” Brambles laughed and wagged his tail happily. Resonance laughed along with him, and nodded. “Yeah, I thought they were going to mug me last night! But they just wanted to know where I got my bottles, so I sent them over to you!” Resonance playfully nudged Bramble and giggled. 

“Well, I better be off now. My ma and pa are waiting for me down the shore to set off our lanterns.” Bramble motioned at the west end of the shore where sure enough there were two green and blue lumendras waving back. Resonance raised a paw and waved back at them with a smile. “Alright! It was great seeing you again Bramble, have fun with your family!” Brambles nodded and scampered off behind the rocks to meet up again with their family as Resonance unwrapped her lantern and placed it in a little rivet in the sand. Her boosha nudged at it curiously. Resonance took one of the bottles - the shiny yellow one and scooped up a bit of sand from around the lantern and placed it inside and shook it gently. Then she trotted down towards the shoreline and she filled it with some of the seawater and capped it off. Alright, one done and 2 more to go! She thought to herself. For the next bottle, she dug around and found a couple of swirly shells and pebbles to place inside and carefully set them in the bottle. Her boosha came up to her with it’s own little shell that it had found near some rocks and Resonance also placed it inside the bottle. She capped it, and set it aside inside her satchel. Just one more now! She was about to take out the bottle before she realized she had no idea what to place inside it.

Stumped, she furrowed her brows in contemplation and looked around for anything that might fit inside. This bottle had a thinner neck than the others, so no shell or pebble could fit inside anyways. She frowned, and stuffed it with a bit of sand to see how it looked. The sand was cast in a dark grey shadow which made it look awful. She shook her head and dumped out the sand. Back to square one. She was about to give up when a clump of brightly colored coral washed up beside her. Her ears perked up and she quickly picked up the coral before it was taken back into the waters by the tide. She held up the coral and observed it’s yellow and orange gradient before grinning. It was a bit too big to fit inside the bottle as it was now, so she shipped away fragments with a sharp rock. After a few minutes, she held the coral next to the bottle to size it up. It looked as if it would fit perfectly. Then, with much perseverance and precision she slid the coral chunk inside and capped off the bottle. “Score!” Resonance said aloud in delight. Her boosha chirped in agreement with her, and licked her encouragingly. Resonance happily stuffed the bottle in her satchel along with the others and closed it to make sure it stayed some-what clean. Then it was high time for the Rite of the Reef to begin, and she picked up her lantern and dusted off the sand and watched as it glimmered in the sunlight. She smirked and set off down towards the shoreline to ready herself to let it go as her boosha bounded up besides her. 

Once the Rite of the Reef had finished, the sun was way down below the horizon and the crescent moon shone through the clouds down onto the shore. As Resonance walked out of the waters over to her satchel, she picked up her boosha and shook off the excess seawater from her fur and headed back home for a good night’s sleep.

On the way, she was reminded of the new friends she had made in the process of collecting her keepsakes for the Rite of the Reef and smiled to herself. And as she opened the door to her home, she set down her boosha and took out the bottled keepsakes out of her satchel and set them on the table. She stared lovingly at the bottles infront of her and realized just how important they were to her and carried them to a shelf over-looking her bed, securing this Rite as one she would remember for a long time to come.